The present invention relates to a display device that is capable of controlling its luminance in accordance with the amount of current applied to a display element or the duration of illumination, and more particularly to a display device that drives a light-emitting diode (LED), organic EL (organic electroluminescence) element, or other self-luminous display element.
A self-luminous element based illumination control method disclosed by U.S. patent application Publication No. 2002/196213 (JP-A-2003-5709) switches between a data write period and drive period in a data write line and provides a drive period in the other lines. This patent document states that the waveform generated by a drive signal line represents a sweep signal, which varies from a maximum potential to a minimum potential during drive period. Thus, periods other than a horizontal write period are for drive. As a result, the luminance of a self-luminous element can be raised.